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Regent Street Flag Incident: Taiwanese Press Review

CNA — [July 27]

[Reacting to] the pushed removal of the Republic of China’s flag at London’s Regent Street, former ROC Vice President Vincent Siew said that if cross-strait relations should continue to relax and improve, Taiwan needed to be treated reasonably within the international community, and not be unjustifiably suppressed.

Siew told this CNA reporter in London that he only learned about this matter after he landed in London on Wednesday. Cross-strait relations had relaxed and improved over the past few years. If this should be further implemented, Taiwan should not be unjustifiably suppressed in the international community. Compatriots expected a display of good intentions.

He said that the British media had covered the issue broadly, and hoped that the British people and the international community would attach importanc to and understand the feelings of the Taiwanese about the change of the flag. The straightforward way Taiwan’s representative in Britain, Shen Lyushun, had handled the issue also deserved praise.

他說，英國媒體對此事有廣泛報導，希望英國人民與國際社會能重視並了解台灣對換旗事件的感受，駐英代表沈呂巡在事發後的明快處理，也值得肯定。

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CNA / Radio Taiwan International (RTI) [July 27] —

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Vincent Siew and his wife are attending today’s opening ceremony at the invitation of Acer company, one of the sponsors of the game, and will also watch competitions and visit sporting venues during their stay.

蕭萬長伉儷應倫敦奧運贊助商之一的台灣宏?公司邀請，今天晚間將參加奧運開幕式，停留期間並將觀賞比賽及參觀場館。

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UDN — [July 28]

Concerning the Republic of China flag which was removed at Regent Street, people at home and abroad have started patriotic flag movements, and president Ma instructed the foreign ministry to explore the issue. Foreign-ministry spokesperson Hsia Chi-chang [Steve Hsia] said that this [the removal of the flag] was the spontaneous decision of the [Regent Street] business people. The foreign ministry would continue to communicate and explain, and strive for the flag to be put back, and also to be flown at other appropriate places in London.

Concerning the photos of the flag in Regent Street, compatriots and tourists had taken photos during the past days, and started a patriotic movement. Presidential spokesman Fan Chiang Tai-chi said that president Ma was touched. Fan Chiang Tai-chi said that the flag’s removal by business people in London and the entire issue’s situation weren’t clear yet. President Ma had instructed the foreign ministry to explore, and if it was confirmed that the issue was related to pressure from mainland China, this would be no helpful development, and our side would express its serious and principled position to mainland China.

Fan Chiang Tai-chi said that in recent years, cross-strait relations had gradually relaxed, and [the presidential office] had promoted “flexible diplomacy” which had opened windows of opportunity and led to some concrete effects which hadn’t been feasible before. However, the problems of previous decades could not be solved overnight, and the future would continue to hold many problems that needed to be overcome. This was precisely why the [presidential] office would continue to exert efforts on broadening [Taiwan’s] international space.